I just hope this doesn't happen. I'm American, but I DO NOT want Americans building my cars. There are too many dumb bastards in this country. Americans only care about quantity, not quality. This better not happen. I love BMW too much.

Who is the dumbass from Chicago talking about people from North Carolina and how they talk. Does the idiot know the plant is South Carolina, at least we geography in the south do they not teach that in Il. Oh that's right, you elected that shitass president as a senator and your making fun of us. We will all be backrupt thanks to that other asshole from Chicago.

Nope. The issue is not the american worker, its the current american management environment. US auto CEOs have compensation packages that are multiples of their counterparts around the world yet unflinchingly produce products that are embarassing in quality and design. Why? Because their eyes are on their compensation package rather than the quality of their product.

The successful domestic imports all used their own management and instilled their management culture into US plants. The failure of Daimler Chrysler was because they kept the US leadership.

Yep. There was even an old 80s movie "Gung Ho" with Michael Keaton that dealt with issues of a Japanese auto company coming to America and how they changed the work ethics of the employees in local plant they took over.

Who is the dumbass from Chicago talking about people from North Carolina and how they talk.

If that was a question, which usually ends with a question mark here in the North, then that dumbass would be me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lucky13

Does the idiot know the plant is South Carolina, at least we geography in the south do they not teach that in Il.

I was making the point that Geography is irrelevant when you get to the south; everyone is kissing cousins, you're all directly related, and you're all uniformally pissed over losing the war.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lucky13

Oh that's right, you elected that shitass president as a senator and your making fun of us. We will all be backrupt thanks to that other asshole from Chicago.

I'm not sure what you're saying in this part. The people of Illinois elected him as Senator, but the whole country voted him in as President. FWIW, I voted in the other direction, and I feel his political platform was weak and he hooked the gullible American people on one word without an explanation behind it. "Change." I dislike him because of his policies and the way he manipulated Americans who didn't bother to think for themselves. You dislike him because he's a free man.

I have never heard of anyone going backrupt, so I can't confirm or deny that claim either.

And before any other good 'ol boys jump in and get their panties in a bunch, the comments directed at the South are all in good fun. I lived there for a while, and I can tell you that the stereotypes are not unfounded, but not as rampant as some may think. There are good people down there, there are some open-minded ones, and not everyone is a racist. Some of my best friends in the Corps were from NC, SC, Georgia, and Mississippi. There are idiots and assholes anywhere.

Like Tim said, I don't give a shit what you say about me or where I'm from either. I don't take silly posts on some forum on the internet too seriously. Neither should you.

Just an add on the ONLY reason I would care if they made them in the US would be no more ED on the 3 series. But I assume the M's will still be made in Germany so I could go that route.

I don't believe they will end ED on the 3 series. As of now they already build the 3er over several plants. Adding 1 to the US will just add another to the list. Yes it will likely supply most of the dealerships on hand supply, but if you order a car to spec you will likely be able to choose which plant builds the car, it would just be your choice to wait longer if necessary. You're able to do that now between Germany and South Africa.

You have to remember the 3er is BMW's most popular car around the world. The X3, X5 and X6 are pretty much built for the American public so it makes sense to build them here. The Z is a more specialty car so it doesn't really matter where it's built. The 3er needs multiple plants to keep up with production and keep costs down.

ED will not end. They just dropped major coin on the Welt Center. To cut that off to Americans only a few years after opening would be the more absurd business move on BMW's part considering the 3er is the main ED car for us Americans.

if they begin production here, does that mean the price of the car will have a lower msrp?

I would seriously doubt it. If anything, it may help their profit margin, but I would be surprised if they even made an effort to pass the savings on to customers. If they did start building the 3 here, it would only support a fraction of total 3er production anyway.

The Japanese manufacturers have shown that with proper manufacturing equipment and methods, the US worker can make cars of excellent world quality.

The European maufacturers who manufacture here have, after an initial period of adjustment, done very well and produce high quality SUVs and cars here (Mercedes with the M and G line, BMW with the X5, soon X3 and previously the Z line).

VW has shown that when the corporate will is not there, even German workers can make clunkers, as VWs build in Germany had piss-poor build quality that made ven the Germans cringe (issues which are being addressed with the current generation Golf etc).

So the issue of building here from a quality perspective is a non-issue.

If you really want a car that is made in Germany, fine, that is a personal preference.

I co-run the North American arm of a German company that manufactures and develops industrial automation solutions. Friday afternoon (which is Friday morning here), if we need anything taken care of, the only thing we can be assured of is that they won't be in their offices, or if they are, we will get ignored or bounced around by everyone who doesn't want to deal with us. I always plan for our interactions on Friday to be a wash so that we don't get screwed over.

Hmmm, I wonder why GM, Ford, and Chrysler are on the brink of filing for bankruptcy. It must be the high quality cars that they build.

No, actually it's because they're corporate sloths and they pump a lot of money into making products that aren't necessarily bad; it's just that they're building stuff that people don't want.

They're 3-5 years behind on everything. Look at the Camaro for Chrissakes. Old GM would say 2010 manufacture startup for the Volt, and we would actually not see it go into production until 2013-2015. "New" GM needs to make good on that promise and release it ASAP. They need to start moving at a decent pace to keep up with the market; something they haven't done in the past.

It took the Big 3 decades to get to where they are now. I really doubt there is anything they can do now to change their fate. I really hate to see the Viper go, but it is just a waste of taxpayers' money to bail these remarkable (sarcasm) automakers out.

Build quality is mostly affected by the design of the product and the planning of the production floor and less by the actual workers. A well set up factory in US producing a properly designed automobile will work. Big Three's problem aren't the actual workers but the financial restrictions they have in investing into R&D and production line improvements. Which essentialy begins at the head of the company.